Amanda Arsenault of Chicopee held without bail in death of infant son, Naiden Goitia

Photo by Mark M. Murray / The RepublicanAmanda Arsenault, of Chicopee, is arraigned in Hampden Superior Court Friday on murder charges in the death of infant son in July.

SPRINGFIELD – The state and family members intervened in the six-month life of Naiden Goitia.

“The net result is a dead child,” said Hampden Superior Court Judge Peter A. Velis Friday, who ordered the infant’s mother, Amanda Arsenault, 23, of Chicopee to be held without right to bail after she pleaded innocent to murder and reckless endangerment of a child.

Lawyers for both have said their clients are innocent in the death of the infant, who died in July of blunt force trauma, according to a prosecutor.

Assistant District Attorney Diane M. Dillon said Arsenault’s father and stepmother, Charles and Gail Arsenault, had custody of the boy, but the baby had been living with Amanda Arsenault in violation of the custody agreement for a month and a half. The grandparents have been indicted for reckless endangerment of a child.

She said the state Department of Children and Families had given the grandparents custody after Amanda Arsenault brought the child at less than a month old to a hospital with bite marks and bruises.

Edwin Goitia did not live with Amanda Arsenault but visited every few weeks, according to Dillon.

Amanda Arsenault’s lawyer, Joseph A. Franco, said that his client had nothing to do with the death of the child.

Franco said that the last time she saw the baby, he was in the arms of his father, who put him to sleep.

Franco said that Arsenault and Edwin Goitia went to a convenience store, placing the monitor from the baby’s room with a downstairs neighbor.

When Arsenault, of 373 Dale St., came back from the store she looked into the baby’s room and he was quiet; Edwin Goita told her the baby was sleeping, Franco said.

Arsenault went to feed the baby later and found he was in distress, Franco said. She immediately called her father who took them to the hospital, he said.

Dillon said Arsenault’s roommate reported seeing Goitia holding the baby against his shoulder on July 29 at about 7:15 p.m., with the baby’s legs dangling.

Defense lawyer George M. Nassar said earlier that Goitia denies harming the baby.

Dillon asked that Arsenault be held without right to bail, saying she had checked with the Chicopee Women’s Correctional Center and found out that they had accommodations for someone in Arsenault’s condition and they currently house “eight ladies in the same condition.” Although Dillon did not specify the condition, Arsenault appeared to be pregnant.